That night, Sa-yoon had used his clothes to cover half his face to prevent it from being fully exposed. And now, he was wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes and had even used an artifact to prevent proper facial recognition.
So how did he recognize me?
It didn’t make sense. From neutralizing his first strike that night with a skill to everything else about him being suspicious, Sa-yoon glared at the man. Just then, a café employee called out Sa-yoon’s receipt number, telling him to pick up his Americano. The attention of everyone in the café naturally turned to Sa-yoon and Jaehee. As Sa-yoon frowned upon realizing this, Jaehee bowed his head.
“Let’s sit down after I bring the coffee, shall we?”
He clearly wasn’t going to let Sa-yoon go. Should he be grateful that, unlike other notoriously violent S-ranks, Jaehee didn’t suddenly grab him by the throat and threaten him?
The timing couldn’t be worse.
Meeting him just when his rank had dropped, Sa-yoon sighed and gently pushed Jaehee’s shoulder aside. The fact that his rank had fallen wasn’t yet known to Jaehee. There was no need to appear weak now and give him an advantage.
“Stay put, I’ll be right back.”
Jaehee nodded at his words. Sa-yoon brushed off his wet clothes and returned with the Americano.
He set the cup down with a thud and leaned back in his chair. He had no intention of letting the other take the initiative by speaking first.
“How did you know?”
“I’m not sure what you’re asking about.”
“You called me an assassin.”
As Sa-yoon spoke in a low voice, Jaehee smiled. It was an ambiguous smile. Sa-yoon knew what such smiles usually meant.
He was going to avoid answering.
As expected, it was suspicious. Thinking he should use the Genius’s Eye while he had the chance, Sa-yoon clenched his fist in preparation and used the skill.
That’s when an unexpected notification window appeared.
<If you use this skill, the target will become aware of its existence. Do you want to proceed?>
“……”
He had used the Genius’s Eye countless times since obtaining it, but this was a first. There were two differences from other times. First, his rank had dropped, and second, the skill target was Lee Jaehee. Not knowing which of the two caused the problem, Sa-yoon was eyeing him suspiciously when Jaehee caught him off guard.
“Your rank has lowered, hasn’t it?”
“……”
Thanks to suppressing his breath for a moment, he managed not to show his surprise on his face.
How did he know?
Estimating rank by eye was only possible when both parties exuded their aura, not while casually drinking coffee like now. Of course, a very keen ranker might instinctively sense whether an opponent was stronger or weaker without them exuding their aura, but was Lee Jaehee that type of person?
His thoughts deepened. Seeing no benefit in showing any reaction, Sa-yoon chose silence. After taking a sip of coffee, Jaehee spoke again.
“I understand that rank lowering rarely happens. But your rank has dropped by more than two levels in that short time. What happened to you?”
“…!”
This time, it was impossible to hide his surprise. Such a detailed guess, not just about being stronger or weaker but about dropping beyond a certain point, was impossible without seeing his status window.
Status window.
…No way.
That’s impossible. This was his exclusive skill. It was truly inconceivable that someone else had the same one. But what if Lee Jaehee also possessed the ‘Genius’s Eye’? If that’s why the warning window appeared when he tried to use the Genius’s Eye, and how he noticed the rank drop?
If that were the case, everything would make sense.
He must have recognized Sa-yoon by opening his status window. The same went for the rank drop, and it would explain the Genius’s Eye warning to a satisfactory degree. Raising an eyebrow, Sa-yoon looked straight into Jaehee’s eyes.
It seemed necessary to try using the Genius’s Eye after all.
<If you use this skill, the target will become aware of its existence. Do you want to proceed?>
Who cares if he notices? If he also had the Genius’s Eye, he would already know that Sa-yoon’s status window contained it. Without hesitation, Sa-yoon pressed ‘Yes’ to use the skill.
“Ugh!”
Was it because his rank had dropped? The oncoming pain was hard to endure. The risk of using the Genius’s Eye at his current rank was different from when he was S-rank. While it was just a momentary sting when used as an S-rank, now, even on the first use, the pain was as intense as when he had reached his limit as an S-rank. No, it was even worse. His eyes became moist. Knowing what was happening, Sa-yoon quickly lowered his head.
Damn it.
Blood was flowing from his eyes. Cursing under his breath, Sa-yoon pressed his clothes against his eyes to wipe them. Thank goodness he was wearing black clothes.
The problem was that it seemed it would take quite some time to stop.
“Are, are you alright?”
He must have been surprised by Sa-yoon suddenly planting his face on the table mid-conversation. To the question mixed with worry and suspicion, Sa-yoon rummaged through his pockets. He had hoped for a mask but hadn’t brought one. Regretting not putting one in his inventory, Sa-yoon continued to wipe his eyes endlessly with his clothes, maintaining silence for a moment.
He might find it strange, but what could be done?
Based on what he knew of Jaehee’s personality so far, he wouldn’t resort to violent actions like grabbing Sa-yoon’s hair to check his expression, at least not in a place crowded with people. So, Sa-yoon decided to ignore whatever Jaehee said until the bleeding stopped, only raising his head after a considerable time had passed.
By now, he must have vaguely sensed it.
He would have received a system notification the moment Sa-yoon used his skill. It would be strange if he hadn’t guessed that Sa-yoon had used a skill and couldn’t endure its risk.
He was about to reveal his hand to some extent in just their second meeting. Biting his lip at this unwanted turn of events, Sa-yoon opened his eyes wide to check Jaehee’s status window.
He was determined to gain as much information as possible to compensate for the loss he had suffered.
<Lee Jaehee’s Status Window>
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Rank: S-rank
Disposition: ‘One Who Breaks the Flow’
Titles: ‘One Watched by Gods(?)’, ‘Perhaps I’m a Descendant of Gods(?)’, ‘Supremely Pure Good(SSS)’, ‘The One Who Sees Through(SSS+)’, ‘One Who Communicates with All Things(SSS)’, ‘Beloved by Heaven(SS)’, ‘Inquiring Horse(S)’…
Skills: [Taming(SS)], [Communication(S+)], [Exploration(S+)], [Weapon Master(SS)], [Keen Sense(S)], [Awakening(SSS)], [For a Friend(SS+)], [Martial Arts(A)], [Blooming(S)], [Inquiry(A+)], [Transportation(AA+)]…
Exclusive Skills: [The One Who Sees Through(SSS+)], [Soul Contract(SS+)], [Iron Will(SSS)]
Unopened Skills: None.
Special Abilities: ‘Loving All Things(SSS)’, ‘Shining Repository of Knowledge(SSS)’, ‘Bestiary Record(AA+)’, ‘Weak Point Selection(SS+)’, ‘Master of Composure(SS+)’, ‘Master of Equanimity(SS+)’…
What the hell has this guy been up to?
It was a status window that left him speechless. Barely holding back his astonishment, Sa-yoon managed his almost gaping mouth and looked at Jaehee’s status window again.
He couldn’t count how many times he saw ‘S’. Honestly, just looking at the status window, it rivaled his own when he was S-rank.
No, it might even surpass that.
He had one more exclusive skill, no less.
This was definitely not the status window of a low-ranking ranker.
At this level, he could easily dominate the domestic rankings, Sa-yoon marveled inwardly. To confirm the existence of the Genius’s Eye skill, he stared intently at the exclusive skills and clicked on one suspicious entry.
[The One Who Sees Through(SSS+)]
-Sees through the essence of all things and, if the target is a player, shows the player’s rank as well.
It had three S’s and even a plus. For such a high rank, the explanation was simple, but that was often the case with high-ranking skills. They only had brief descriptions, allowing for versatile use depending on how one applied them. After reading the description of ‘The One Who Sees Through’, Sa-yoon finally understood the reason for all the strange phenomena so far.
Since it saw through the essence, the facial recognition interference artifact probably didn’t work from the start. As it showed a player’s rank, he would have known about the rank drop, and with a name like ‘The One Who Sees Through’, he would have seen through any skill attempting to examine him.
Everything made sense now.
There was only one thing left that he couldn’t understand.
Sa-yoon looked at the status window again. His gaze moved up from the exclusive skills to the disposition field.
Thinking he might have seen wrong, he rubbed his eyes and looked again, but it hadn’t changed. He wondered if he was seeing things because he had unconsciously wished for a different disposition holder, but that wasn’t it either. If they weren’t in a café, he would have slapped his cheeks to confirm this was reality. That’s how shocking the information was.
‘One Who Breaks the Flow.’
Lee Jaehee.
He was one of the two disposition holders needed to activate the resistor.